Phone call claiming to be from "Singapore's CID" asks for ATM card details to verify account

Submitted by Stomper Loh, Hock Joo

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Update on (July 8):

The police have alerted the public to a case of police impersonation scam via a post on their Facebook page.

They emphasise that these calls are not from the police, and advised members of the public to take the following precautions when they receive unsolicited calls, especially when they are from unknown parties.

a. Don’t panic – Ignore the calls and caller’s instructions. No government agency will request for transfer of money, personal details or bank account login credentials over the phone. Call a trusted friend or talk to a relative before you act. You may be overwhelmed by emotion and err in your judgment.

b. Don’t believe – Scammers may use caller ID spoofing technology to mask the actual phone number and display a different number. Calls that appear to be from a local number may not actually be made from Singapore. If you receive a suspicious call from a local number, hang up, wait a while, then call the number back to check the validity of the request.

c. Don’t give – Do not provide your name, identification number, passport details, contact details, bank account or credit card details, and One-Time-Password (OTP). Such information is useful to criminals.

If anyone wishes to provide any information related to such scams, please call the Police hotline at 1800-255-0000, or submit it online at www.police.gov.sg/iwitness. If you require urgent Police assistance, please dial ‘999’.

Original article:

Stomper Hock Joo and several other Stompers alerted Stomp to a video of a scam claiming to be from Singapore's "Criminal Investigation Department (CID)".

The video posted by Stomper Loh has been circulating on WhatsApp and was published on a Facebook page, All Singapore Stuff.

In the video, the caller shares that he is from the CID of Singapore.

A man responds: "I didn't do any crime, why is my account locked."

The scammer assures the man by telling him that they need to verify his account.

Noticing that the "CID" is calling from the Viber application, the man asks why the authorities are not contacting him through his mobile number instead.

The man asks for the scammer's contact details to which the caller said: "You can write down my phone number, it's 87434101."

They then ask him to turn on his video camera and show his automated teller machine (ATM) card.

From the video, the man obliges, shows a card and asks: "EZ-Link card can not?"

The scammer responded: "Er, sorry? Can share with me the back of the card, so I can see the name."

The man is then warned by the scammer that if he does not provide his account details, the CID will arrest him where he will then be in jail for six months.

After almost five minutes, the man gives up and says: "You think we Singaporean so stupid will get scammed by you ah? Do you understand what is f*** you?"

Almost immediately, the scammer ends the call.

Stomper Hock Joo saw the video and said: "Be careful about this."

To seek scam-related advice, members of the public may call the anti-scam helpline at 1800-722-6688 or go to www.scamalert.sg.

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